Deconstructing ‘La La Land’

Here’s to the ones who dream, foolish as they may seem. Here’s to the hearts that ache. Here’s to the mess we make. She captured feeling, sky with no ceiling, the sunset inside with rain.

Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are ultra-rich and globally famous because once upon a time, they dreamed and they dreamed big.

Sure, early on, when Ryan and Emma were nobodies, they experienced rejection. They failed. People doubted them. They suffered humiliation. They had to do menial work. They got plenty of advice to, you know, just “grow up!” They came really close to selling out. They came really close to quitting, to moving back to Squaresville.

But in the end, at the decisive moment, Ryan and Emma believed in themselves. They held on to their hopes. They persevered. They were true to themselves and to their art. To their craft. To their dreams.

Did Ryan and Emma have to make sacrifices? Sure! Of course! Naturally! For example, back in the early years, before Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone broke through, before they made it, there was Cute Girl and Adorable Guy, respectively, with whom Ryan and Emma lived lives of quiet anonymity in low-rent apartments in quaintly seedy neighborhoods, and frequented charmingly retro diners, and wandered through amusement parks and under-appreciated public spaces like parks and old museums. Obviously, holding on to their dreams meant, in the end, having to let go of Cute Girl and Adorable Guy. Which is not to say that they won’t always have their memories. And there are certainly consolations, e.g., money to burn and the kind of celebrity that makes a person feel like a god or goddess among mortals.

So, if you yourself don’t make it big like Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone did, you’ve got only yourself to blame. Obviously, you gave up, you surrendered, you didn’t truly believe in yourself. You didn’t work hard enough. You lost because you’re a loser.